Living History Attraction
The West…just as it was! Step back in time with a visit to This Is The Place Heritage Park. The non-profit This Is The Place Foundation manages Utah’s premier living history attraction, our historic 450-acre Utah State Park. Our mission is to preserve and promote the heritage and history of Utah. You’ll find it alive in storied accounts of the settlement of the West, told by our knowledgeable interpreters in a setting of original and replica historic homes. You’ll also see artisans and interpreters demonstrate 19th Century frontier life in a working environment. While you look on, the blacksmith explains his trade while he creates items used elsewhere in the Village, and the furniture maker turns ordinary wood into a masterpiece!
A lively variety of domestic skills are demonstrated in Village homes. You can watch wool being carded and spun into yarn that will be colored with a kaleidoscope of dyes made from native plants, many grown right here at the Park. At another historic building, candles are being dipped layer-by-layer over a small open fire in the backyard, and quilting demonstrations are sure to leave you warm at heart!
A visit to the Park is not a tour of historic artifacts behind velvet ropes and glass, but a true experience of life as it was in the early days of the West. The Native American Village offers a window to a world long since gone, where members of Utah’s indigenous tribes interpret the history of their native people. You can also enjoy the Park from the comfort of one of our three replica trains and see and hear the history of the settlement, or simply spend the day walking the quiet streets on your own.
Elsewhere in the 450-acre Park is our Visitors’ Center, the welcome center of the Park. There you’ll find one of our newest attractions, the Heritage Park Preview exhibition, along with one of Utah’s finest gift and souvenir shops. The ZCMI Mercantile inside the Park is filled with old-fashioned gifts and candy and is sure to be one of your most memorable shopping experiences during your visit.
This Is The Place Heritage Park
2610 East Sunnyside Ave
Salt Lake City, UT 84108
If this is your first visit to the Park, here’s a hint. Before you do anything else, ride the train around the Village to see all the Park has to offer. Then you can plan where and what you’d like to visit once you get off!
One of our most popular events will return again in 2011! Join us for this special event as we celebrate the Relief Society. You will be treated to historic interpreters in pioneer dress that will relate stories of early Relief Society members.